Golf ball

ABSTRACT

An improved golf ball comprises a core with a coarse surface, a resin layer bonded to the coarse surface of the core, a reflective layer being a metal thin film with a glossy surface and coated on the resin layer by vacuum plating, and a transparent layer coated on the reflective layer. Through illumination of light, the reflective layer of the golf ball can reflect the light to glisten brighter after the golf ball is hit. The reflective layer also is less likely to be peeled off, atomized and damaged after the golf ball is hit, thus can increase the lifespan thereof.

This application is a continuation-in-part, and claims priority, of from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/535,312 filed on Aug. 4, 2009, entitled “GOLF BALL”, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an improved golf ball that has a coarse surface coated on a core and bonded by a resin layer, a reflective layer being a metal thin film with a glossy surface and formed by vacuum plating, and a transparent layer coated on the reflective layer to provide protection, thus the reflective layer not only provides optimal light reflection effect but also is less likely to be damaged to enhance durability of the golf ball.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Golf has become a popular sport in recent years rather than an expensive activity in the past. This becomes obvious as a great number of golf courses have been set up in a wide scope of areas. While the golf has become more popular and widespread nowadays, golf clubs and golf balls also become fashionable products on the market, and competition is fierce. How to develop products with distinguished features is vital to increase market share.

A conventional white golf ball A (referring to FIG. 1) has a ball body A1 with an opaque white layer A2 to facilitate view of the flight position. But the white layer A2 is deficient in reflection and becomes darker after subject to frequent hit of the golf clubs. This makes recognizing the distance and location of the white golf ball A after strike more difficult.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,949,595B2 (referring to FIG. 2) discloses a multilayer golf ball B that has a core B1, a colored intermediate cover B2 outside the core B1 and a transparent cover B3 outside the intermediate cover B2. The colored intermediate cover B2 can be seen through the transparent cover B3. Moreover, the intermediate cover B2 can be formed in different colors during production to become more distinguishing and appealing. However, the color added to the golf ball B merely enhances the appeal, but does not help to view the flight location after being hitting. It fares even worse than the conventional while golf ball A in the second concern. Although luster-enhancing agent can be added to the intermediate cover B2 to make the color of the intermediate cover B2 brighter, it cannot help to improve reflection or view of the flight location.

Another U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,378 (referring to FIG. 3A) also discloses a golf ball C which mainly has an outer cover C1 randomly or fully embedded with reflective particles C2 to provide reflection (also referring to FIGS. 3B and 3C). While more reflective particles C2 distributed in the outer cover C1 can increase light reflective effect, more structural damages also incur to the outer cover C1. As a result, after the golf ball C is hit, the outer cover C1 is prone to crack, and the reflective particles C2 easily drop to result in diminishing the reflective effect and shortening the lifespan. Moreover, the reflective particles C2 are blended inside the outer cover C1 during production, thus the structure might like that depicted in FIG. 3C, i.e., some of the reflective particles C2 are tilted and overlapped, so that the reflective surfaces C21 of the reflective particles C2 could not parallel with the ball surface C11, such as the first reflective particle C2 and second reflective particle C22, or could generate gaps when being overlapped, such as the first reflective particle C2 and third reflective particle C23. In the second situation, when light d projects to the third reflective particle C23, it is refracted and blocked by the bottom of the first reflective particle C2, therefore the reflective effect is severely affected.

FIG. 3D illustrates another situation in which the light d enters to the reflective particle C2 non-vertically through the arched ball surface C11 at a first distance H and forms a non-vertical angle θ, and then another light d1 is reflected. As the light d1 is reflected through the ball surface C11 at a second distance H1 which is greater than the first distance H, the intensity of the light d1 is weaker, namely the vertical light d2 has better reflective effect than the non-vertical light d1. Thus, although the reflective particles C2 are proximate to the ball surface C11, as they are not parallel with the ball surface C11 at all, light reflection is adversely affected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to overcome the aforesaid disadvantages of the conventional golf balls by providing a golf ball which has a coarse surface coated on a core and bonded by a resin layer, a reflective layer being a metal thin film with a glossy surface and formed by vacuum plating, and a transparent layer coated on the reflective layer to provide protection, thus the reflective layer not only provides optimal light reflection effect but also is less likely to be damaged to enhance durability of the golf ball.

To achieve the foregoing object, the present invention provides an improved golf ball that comprises a core, a resin layer, a reflective layer and a transparent layer. The core has a coarse surface bonded by the resin layer, and then the reflective layer being a metal thin film with a glossy surface and formed by vacuum plating is coated on the resin layer. The metal thin film is made of an aluminum alloy to achieve total light reflection. The transparent layer is coated on the reflective layer to provide protection.

The golf ball thus formed can provide benefits as follows:

The coarse surface and resin layer are bonded intensively. The reflective layer is a metal thin film with a glossy surface and coated on the resin layer by vacuum plating. The reflective layer is parallel with the outmost transparent layer, hence optimal light reflection can be attained. Through illumination of light, the reflective layer of the golf ball can reflect the light to glisten brighter after the golf ball is hit. The reflective layer also is less likely to be peeled off, atomized and damaged after the golf ball is hit, thus can increase the durability and lifespan thereof.

The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross section of a conventional golf ball.

FIG. 2 is a cross section of a golf ball disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,949,595 B2.

FIG. 3A is a cross section of a golf ball disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,378.

FIG. 3B is a fragmentary enlarged cross section according to FIG. 3A showing reflective particles distributed randomly.

FIG. 3C is a fragmentary enlarged cross section according to FIG. 3A showing reflective particles distributed extensively.

FIG. 3D is a schematic view according to FIG. 3A showing light reflection when the light is incident vertically and non-vertically.

FIG. 4 is a cross section of the golf ball of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged cross section of the golf ball according to FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the annular ridge forming a parting line on the core according to FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the golf ball according to FIG. 4 after being hit.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the golf ball according to FIG. 4 showing total light reflection after receiving incident light.

FIG. 9 is a cross section of the golf ball of the invention with a transparent plastic film coated on the reflective layer.

FIG. 10 is a cross section of the golf ball of the invention with fluorescent powder embedded in the transparent layer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 4 and 5, the present invention aims to provide a golf ball 10 which comprises a core 20, a resin layer 30, a reflective layer 40 and a transparent layer 50.

The core 20 of the invention usually is made of rubber, plastics or a mixture of rubber and plastics. During forming of the core 20 by injection, a release agent usually is needed to make release of the core 20 from the mold easier. The core 20 thus formed generally has a smooth surface with the release agent coated thereon and an annular ridge 201 formed thereon for forming a parting line (referring to FIG. 6). Hence a sanding process is applied to the surface of the core 20 to remove the annular ridge 201 and roughen the surface thereof to become a coarse surface 21.

The resin layer 30 is made of PU (polyurethane) in this invention and coated on the coarse surface 21 of the core 20. As the release agent originally existing on the core 20 has been removed and the original smooth surface of the core 20 is substituted by the coarse surface 21, the resin layer 30 can be bonded to the core 20 with increased bonding strength to prevent peeling off from the core 20 when the golf ball 10 is hit.

The reflective layer 40 is coated on the resin layer 30 by vacuum plating. As the reflective layer 40 cannot be directly coated on the core 20 by vacuum plating, the resin layer 30 has to be coated on the coarse surface 21 of the core 20 first, and then the reflective layer 40 is coated on the resin layer 30 by vacuum plating an aluminum alloy to form a metal thin film with a glossy surface to provide a mirror-like effect. The reflective layer 40 is formed at a thickness between 1-30 μm. Too much thickness will make the golf ball 10 hit by a golf club 60 difficult to return to its original spherical shape, i.e., the return force of the core 20 could be inadequate to restore the deformed reflective layer 40 to its original shape, hence the reflective layer 40 has to be made sufficiently thin to restore the hit golf ball 10 to the original spherical shape (referring to FIG. 7).

The transparent layer 50 is coated on the reflective layer 40. The transparent layer 50 has an outmost surface 51 in parallel with a continuous reflective surface of the reflective layer 40, thereby protects the continuous reflective surface of the reflective layer 40. Hence whether light is incident vertically or non-vertically to the reflective surface, total light reflection can be achieved (referring to FIG. 8), thereby light reflection effect of the golf ball 10 can last longer when in use. Such a structure also can protect the reflective layer 40 from being damaged when the golf ball 10 is hit. When the light enters to the reflective layer 40 and is then reflected by the reflective layer 40 through the transparent layer 50, maximum light reflection effect can be achieved. Moreover, the reflective layer 40 is less likely to be peeled off, atomized or damaged after the golf ball 10 is hit, thus durability and lifespan of the golf ball 10 increases.

Please refer to FIG. 9, a colored transparent plastic film 41 also can be coated on the reflective layer 40 to provide color variation and maintain reflective effect.

Please refer to FIG. 10, the transparent layer 50 also can contain fluorescent powder 52. When the golf ball 10 is hit and flights, through illumination of light, the reflective layer 40 and the fluorescent powder 52 in the outmost transparent layer 50 to glisten together and reflect the light at the same time.

In short, the golf ball 10 of the invention has a coarse surface 21 on a core 20 and coated by a resin layer 30, a reflective layer 40 being a metal thin film with a glossy surface made of aluminum alloy and formed by vacuum plating, and an outmost transparent layer 50 coated on the reflective layer 40 to provide protection, thus the reflective layer 40 not only provides optimal light reflection effect but also is less likely to be peeled off, atomized and damaged to enhance durability and lifespan of the golf ball 10. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A golf ball, comprising: a core including a coarse surface; a resin layer bonded to the coarse surface of the core; a reflective layer which is a metal thin film with a glossy surface and coated on the resin layer by vacuum plating; and a transparent layer coated on the reflective layer; wherein the reflective layer includes a continuous reflective surface in parallel with an outmost surface of the transparent layer.
 2. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the core is made of rubber, plastics or a mixture of rubber and plastics.
 3. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the resin layer is made of polyurethane.
 4. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the reflective layer is formed at a thickness ranged from 1 to 30 μm.
 5. The golf ball of claim 4, wherein the metal thin film is made of an aluminum alloy.
 6. The golf ball of claim 1 further including a colored transparent plastic film coated on the reflective layer.
 7. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the transparent layer further includes fluorescent powder. 